Evolve

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER delivers a highly playable experience in Evolve, with benchmark results showing a clear progression from demanding 4K settings to high-refresh-rate 1080p. The measured data indicates that this combination is well-balanced, though the GPU becomes the primary limiting factor as resolution and graphical fidelity increase.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is steep and consistent across all settings presets, revealing the expected GPU-bound behavior of Evolve at higher resolutions. At Low settings, the average frame rate falls from 177.4 FPS at 1080p to 119.2 FPS at 1440p, a 32.8% reduction, and then further to 66.1 FPS at 4K, representing a 62.7% decline from the 1080p baseline. This scaling pattern indicates that at lower settings, the RTX 2070 SUPER’s rendering pipeline is the constraint, as the CPU has ample headroom to feed frames.

The Medium preset shows a similar trajectory: 138.9 FPS at 1080p drops to 91.6 FPS at 1440p (a 34.1% loss) and then to 52 FPS at 4K (a 62.6% loss from 1080p). The High preset follows the same pattern, with 109.1 FPS at 1080p falling to 70.7 FPS at 1440p and 40 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops between 1440p and 4K are notably larger than those between 1080p and 1440p, which is typical for a GPU with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 256-bit bus, as the pixel fill rate and memory bandwidth become increasingly stressed.

The Ultra preset exhibits the most dramatic scaling, with 72.5 FPS at 1080p, 51.2 FPS at 1440p, and just 29.1 FPS at 4K. The 4K result is below the 30 FPS threshold often considered the minimum for a playable experience, indicating that the Ultra preset at 4K is not viable for this combo. The overall pattern confirms that the RTX 2070 SUPER, with its 9.062 TFLOPS of FP32 compute and 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, is the limiting component at 4K, while the Ryzen 7 3700X’s 8 cores and 16 threads provide sufficient processing power to avoid becoming a bottleneck at lower resolutions.

Settings Recommendations

The data suggests that the High preset offers the best balance of visual quality and performance for most users. At 1440p, High delivers 70.7 FPS, which is comfortably above the 60 FPS target for smooth gameplay, while at 1080p it reaches 109.1 FPS, making it suitable for high-refresh-rate monitors. The Medium preset provides a modest performance uplift—91.6 FPS at 1440p and 138.9 FPS at 1080p—but the visual fidelity reduction may not be worth the gains for those with standard 60 Hz displays.

For 4K gaming, the Low preset is the only viable option, delivering 66.1 FPS, which is playable but requires significant graphical compromises. The Medium preset at 4K produces 52 FPS, which is acceptable for slower-paced gameplay but may feel less responsive in competitive scenarios. The Ultra preset should be avoided at 4K entirely, as its 29.1 FPS average falls below playable thresholds, and even at 1440p the 51.2 FPS result is marginal for fast-paced FPS action.

The most compelling argument for the High preset comes from its consistency across resolutions. While Low at 1080p achieves 177.4 FPS, this is far beyond the refresh rate of most monitors, making the extra frames imperceptible to users with 144 Hz displays. High at 1080p provides 109.1 FPS, which is still well above 100 FPS and captures most of the fluidity benefit. At 1440p, High’s 70.7 FPS is nearly double the 4K Ultra result, showing that this preset strikes the optimal balance between the GPU’s rendering capabilities and the CPU’s ability to maintain frame pacing.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo achieves in Evolve?

A: The highest measured average FPS is 177.4, achieved at 1920x1080 with the Low settings preset.

Q: Can this system run Evolve at 4K Ultra settings?

A: No, the 4K Ultra preset yields only 29.1 FPS average, which is below the 30 FPS threshold generally considered the minimum for playable performance. The 4K Low preset is the only 4K option above 60 FPS, producing 66.1 FPS.

Q: How does the RTX 2070 SUPER compare to its closest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 2070 SUPER’s average benchmark score is 22206, placing it just 0.5% below the NVIDIA RTX A400 (22307) and 0.9% above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z (22006). It trails the RTX 4060 Mobile by 2.3% but leads the AMD Radeon RX 5700 by 2.5%.

Q: What is the CPU’s performance percentile relative to all processors?

A: The Ryzen 7 3700X sits in the 85th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 28631. Its closest rival, the Intel Core i5-12600, scores 28654, a negligible 0.1% difference.

Q: How many frames per second does the Medium preset deliver at 1440p?

A: The Medium preset at 2560x1440 produces an average of 91.6 FPS, which is a 29.5% improvement over the High preset’s 70.7 FPS at the same resolution.

Q: Is the Ryzen 7 3700X a bottleneck for the RTX 2070 SUPER in this game?

A: Benchmark results indicate that the GPU is the limiting factor at higher resolutions, as the FPS drops significantly from 1440p to 4K. The CPU’s 8 cores and 16 threads provide ample headroom, evidenced by the 177.4 FPS result at 1080p Low.

How This Combo Ranks

The Ryzen 7 3700X + RTX 2070 SUPER combination ranks 1063 out of 1695 tested combos in Evolve, placing it in the 37th percentile of all configurations. This ranking reflects a system that is solidly mid-pack, capable of delivering smooth gameplay at 1080p and 1440p but not competitive with top-tier hardware for 4K Ultra gaming. The position is consistent with the individual component percentiles: the CPU sits at the 85th percentile among all processors, while the GPU is at the 65th percentile among all graphics cards.

The gap between the CPU’s high percentile and the GPU’s more modest standing explains why the combo performs as it does. The Ryzen 7 3700X is a strong processor, but the RTX 2070 SUPER, while capable, is not at the same relative performance level. This imbalance means that in CPU-light scenarios like Evolve at high resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, capping the combo’s overall ranking. The data shows that the combo’s rank is not a reflection of poor engineering but rather a natural consequence of pairing a top-quartile CPU with a second-quartile GPU.

Compared to the GPU’s nearest rivals, the RTX 2070 SUPER’s performance is tightly clustered. The 0.5% deficit to the RTX A400 and the 2.3% deficit to the RTX 4060 Mobile are within run-to-run variance, while the 2.5% lead over the RX 5700 provides a small but consistent advantage. This suggests that the combo’s ranking would shift only marginally with alternative GPUs in the same performance tier, reinforcing that the RTX 2070 SUPER is the defining component for Evolve’s frame rates.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X is built on the Zen 2 architecture (Matisse) using a 7 nm TSMC process, with 8 cores and 16 threads. Its base clock of 3.60 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz provide solid single-threaded performance, which is crucial for game logic and physics in an FPS like Evolve. The 32 MB of L3 cache helps reduce memory latency, and the dual-channel DDR4 memory support with 51.2 GB/s bandwidth ensures the CPU can feed data to the GPU without causing stalls.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Ryzen 7 3700X scores 2694 in Cinebench R23 single-core and 19087 in multi-core, demonstrating strong per-thread performance that translates well to gaming. Its Passmark single-thread score of 2656 and multithread score of 22458 confirm that it can handle both the primary game thread and background tasks simultaneously. The CPU’s 65 W TDP indicates efficient power delivery, allowing sustained boost clocks during extended gaming sessions without thermal throttling.

For Evolve specifically, the CPU’s role is to maintain a steady frame rate at lower resolutions where the GPU is not saturated. The data supports this: at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 177.4 FPS, which is well above what the GPU could deliver if the CPU were bottlenecking. Even at 1080p Ultra, the 72.5 FPS result shows that the 3700X can keep up with the RTX 2070 SUPER’s demands. The 16 threads are particularly beneficial for handling the game’s AI-driven monster and hunter mechanics, which can spawn multiple simultaneous processes. The CPU’s 85th percentile ranking among all processors confirms that it is not a weak link in this configuration, and its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12600, shows only a 0.1% difference in average score, indicating that the 3700X remains competitive with newer mid-range options.